Its been a slice.

It has been ages since I have but together a blog of Whats new with the Schmus... We are living life, ordinary life now. The kids are busy in school, Easton is taking karate twice a week and meeting friends for dinner.

We have not been on any big weekend get aways as we came into a snag with our tourist visas.(resolved now Auntie Penny & Mom) Panama changed the law for a tourist visa from 90days to 30days. Even with an extension we were over our limit so from advice from our lawyer we have kept close to home :- ) ... but as of yesterday our visa has been extended and we will not be arrested and deported if stopped by a policeman we could not pay off :- ) (you have to love Panama :- )

I have been becoming more familiar with the city which is nice. I found a great cookie store. They will create/decorate any kind of cookie you want, if you can dream it up they can make it. I bought baseballs for all the boys in Easton's class and butterflies for all the girls. They were a big hit. I love when I find these neat things here.

I found a version of Beaners (kids hair salon in Calgary) for the kids... a good find and the lady seemed to know what she was doing. The boys were easy clients though ... they both said "OFF WITH IT" and went back to their regular buzz cuts. It is much cooler for them with no hair.

In Panama we are now into the rainy season. We have not been here during this season before so I was a bit concerned about it. I have heard so many mixed reviews concerning the tropical rainy season... people either think it is not bad or they hate it. I am so happy to report that it is not bad at all. The humidity for us is way better than I was anticipating and it only rains an hour or two a day, then the sun comes out and it is hot. I like that it can rain and the air still be warm so you are not chilled to the bone like one can feel back in Canada. It is funny though because when it down pours here people stay home, kids miss school... you would think a snow blizzard came through here. The one day it was coming down so hard that my umbrella was folding in half as we walked home from school... (the rain lasted 40min like that and then gone)

(the kids love to play in the rain. Here Emma is hiding under the umbrella on our patio)

(no need to wear clothes in the rain they just get in the way..haha My bare bum Everett)

(Elia being a little kid in the rain with Emma)

(Emma's tan is fading since we have not been to the beach in about a month, still looks cute)

Before we came to Panama Central America I do not envision many educational field trips like I did with the kids back in Calgary ie. Science Centre. I was so shocked when someone told me there was a Science Centre here that I went touring around to find it. To my surprise I found it and it really is a Science Centre like back home. The kids love it and there are some fabulous exhibits that the kids have not been exposed to in Calgary. The SC here is empty most days (no idea why) and the kids get their own personal tour guide (in Spanish of course... I don't always understand but Emma is catching on) It costs me $2.00 for each of us to go and we spend a few hours playing around. If you can find the places, Panama has alot to offer.

(Everett was jumping all over this piano, driving us all crazy but he came up with some great tunes)

(here is the grocery store stocked with alot of real groceries... it is sponsored by a local grocery chain here REY)

(the kids spend alot of time buying food and putting it back)

Another DISCOVERY is a play gym that just opened at one of the malls here in town. It is a large jungle gym with climbing walls, zip lines & indoor soccer arena.

(the kids challenging Trent to a game of soccer)

(watch out the T-Rex might eat you :- ) A neat climbing wall)

(At another Panamanian birthday party for our friend Mosy's little girl Gabby, she turned 2)



(Happy Birthday Gabby)

(Spidy & Batman together to capture the bad guys)

(a cute one of the three of them)

(well Spidy did find a princess running around)

(as you can imagine dancing is a big event here in Panama, Easton blew everyone's socks off with his moves... )

It has been a month of birthdays here. Everett just celebrated his third birthday! For his birthday we had the most low key birthday ever our family has experienced, but I had a big cake for our birthday boy. I ordered a monster truck cake to match is favorite shirt he wears almost everyday or sleeps with it. It was nice, it was our family and Elia to sing happy birthday and then we went to the pool.

(Ev loved his cake and it was pretty good. Elia (our helper) was like a little kid, she did not stop eating the cake, she must of had at least 4 pieces... it was like she would never have cake again. (it was nice to share this with her)

(Ev & Emma getting a head start on the cake... Who needs spoons when you have fingers :- )

(it was a very good cake... the icing is different here though because of the heat I think. Traditional icing would not transport very well I figure... I will have to try to make some one of these days)



(Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday dear Everett... Happy birthday to you... )

(Emma & Easton eager to help Ev open his presents... Thank you Drew family for sending a present down to him xoxox)

(my boys know how to take it easy. Bonnie & Mom bought me this foot bath when they came for a visit and the boys love it. They soak & scrub their feet so they are nice and soft. They are just like their dad... enjoy being pampered - they will make great husbands one day )

I have been very surprised by all the international events that come to Panama. They get a lot of concerts that Calgary doesn't get as well as many Disney production shows. Winne the Pooh presented by Disney just came through here, a big Barney show & this week Looney Tunes on Ice by Warner Bros (we are going to that show this week) Alot of these performances are held at this huge convention centre that the Miss Universe Pageant was held at two yrs. ago. I am quite excited to just see this building, it looks amazing from the outside.

A few weeks ago an International book fair also came through town and Emma's class was going, I decided to join the class for the day. One half of the book fair was full of activities for kids like you find at the Festival of Trees...coloring, face painting, crafts, stories, tattoos... it was pretty interesting. The day we were there I was getting a bit annoyed by all these reporters & camera crews... I kept loosing students as these crews kept crowding around this person beside us. I said to Emma's teacher a little annoyed "Who is this person they keep following?" She replied "It is the first lady of Panama" I had no idea, but I rubbed shoulders with her :- ) Security must be a bit more relaxed here because there was no security check before coming in and she was shoulder to shoulder beside me walking where ever she pleased. So I have to say I am a bit embarrassed of my ignorance but a lesson learned. The first lady read the kids a story and interacted with lots of students.

(Emma with her buddy Louisa... her parents are from Brazil but they just moved to Panama from Miami where they lived for 4 yrs...)

(at the book fair, all the volunteers were dressed up as story characters)

(the first lady of Panama... not a great picture as I did not want to seem touristy snapping pictures... I tried to take it discreetly :- )

We found a good park here in the city that we have been going to to hit the ball and play around with pretty nice grass, but not like grass at home (really soft). The park is in a neighborhood that we would like to live in but pretty expensive. It has been explained to us that in this area there is old money... money from families that were rich along time ago. There is a house that goes from one street to the next.

We have heard of some houses here that are one square block in size. Friends of ours, their daughter goes to school with a girl who's family have a house that is a full block large and inside the court yard they are said to have a elephant. There is a crazy amount of wealth here in Panama we have been told, but by judging by the cars & the exclusive Louis Vuitton store opening soon there must be. Researching I have came up with just over a million people in Panama City so to have a Ferrari, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Cartier stores there has to be alot of mulla floating around. I think it is so sad when the rest of the population is extremely poor...

(our future baseball player... go Ev go)

(the swings)

(good thing there is a guy on the street selling popsicles... NOTICE Everett's monster truck shirt...it is long sleeve & he sweats like crazy but he loves the crazy shirt)

(a cute picture of my Fam... Everett is running around somewhere)

Last Sunday Emma had a birthday party to go to so Trent & Easton opted to head out of town and go fishing for the morning. They woke up at 6:00am for the hour long drive to cast some lines. They had a great time, Trent said fishing anywhere else will be very boring since they caught about 80 fish. Easton's arms got tired of reeling in fish so Trent had to take over for a while.

We had a lot of fun at the birthday party but unfortunately I did not get any pictures since Trent snagged my camera to take fishing with them.

(Easton ready for an exciting morning of fishing on Gatun Lake)

(Trent said Easton kept swinging his rode around and hitting the guide in the head... Trent tipped the guide extra for being so good with Easton - that is why kids cost alot to raise :- )

(one of Trent's favorite places besides the poker table :- )

(some of the fish getting a hose down)

(nice fish Pal... you are a pro now)

(Emma after the Hawaiian themed birthday party with a butterfly face painting... it was a fun day)

(the crash after the party... )

(here is a picture of Em & Easton with some of the other kids in the building. These kids here are very nice and they all play together in the pool everyday. It is nice because they all look out for Everett & they involve him in their games as much as they can)

It was a big event here at the kids school on Sunday. It was called "Open Day" which meant the school was open to come see what is happening in the classrooms, there was rock climbing, bouncers, haunted house, video games and a stage where each class preformed a dance/song or skit. Some of the classrooms were decorated amazing... the Panamainian people know how to party. There was a DJ and the music could be heard from many street blocks away. It was very hot this day but it was alot of fun... it was like a mini festivale.

(this is Easton's classroom, the theme that the kids worked on was Under the Sea. His teacher displayed all their art work with alot of imagination!)

(here is Easton in his in front of some of his art)

(funny kids, they are coloring a fish as we toured around)

(Emma's theme was Garden... here she is showing some coloring and flowers. I took more video than pictures I discovered :- (

(lining up for a snow cone... this guy is parked at school when the bell rings... good business, the kids love snow cones on a hot day)

(yummy... Easton says)

This particular Sunday was a busy day. We also went to meet friends at the biggest horse race of the year at the race track here in the city. Our family was late because of the schools Open Day but we made it for some races that the kids thought was pretty cool. Everything here is a family event, they had horse rides, jumpers, soccer & basketball games, a great event! Again I was surprised to find a very nice race track in Panama but it does exist. It was great free entertainment... yes free except for the $2.00 valet we paid.

(Easton taking a ride on a very nice horse)

(I told Everett to go with Emma but there was kids younger than 2 going on the horse by themselves & the Jockey's did not even look back... PANAMA... they do things differently)

(here is a quick shot of the stands which were full of people yelling away with excitment at the races)

(Emma & Trent waiting for the horses to come out of the shoot)

(and their off.... it was pretty exciting watching everyone. Everett said to me "Mommy I ride the horse, me no scared, I hang on really really tight" Ev has no fear...

I am not sure if I have mentioned it but Ev now swims with no water wings when we are in the pool, he jumps in and off he goes... we can not turn our backs on him at all... stinker is keeping up to his brother and sister... No Fear

When we arrived here in Panama we discovered that Panama had a national dance with beautiful costumes which is fully expressed in its traditional dances, its colorful pollera, (the national costume), and tembleques (hair ornaments) worn by women - the embroidered, long-sleeved shirts, calf-high trousers, and a straw "Montuno" hat, is the national costume worn by men.

A show was preforming at a museum we had visited before so Emma especially was excited to go watch. It was beautiful... the age of the dancers must of been from 6yrs. - 20yrs. They showed many different dances from around Panama, Trent & I even had a chance to go on stage and try a few moves on with the dancers (it was fun)

(three little girls & boys are preforming a dance in outfits that they would wear everyday except on Sundays - they were soooo cute)

(this little girl is dressed up in a suit that I believe came from the Caribbean influence here in Panama)

(this little girl was alot of fun to watch... she loved what she was doing)

(the dance took place in front of a church, it was wonderful watching a dance so rich in culture)

(the dancers here are dressed in the traditional Sunday outfits. The Pollera's)

(Emma has been asking for months for a Pollera traditional dress but I was unable to find one. After the show we walked into a little shop and there was a prefect dress for Emma, she fell in love with it and assured Trent & I she will wear it to dinner all the time. Easton also was interested in the traditional Panamain outfit so ..... of course that followed suit for Everett. We are becoming more local than we thought :- )

I do have to say though... they look pretty darn cute!!!

(here is Easton & Emma on our way to dinner.... yes they wore their new outfits to supper... they were the stars of the resturant. Emma told me she would wear her dress in Calgary,,,, then paused and asked me "have people in Calgary seen a Pollera dress before?" I was holding back my smile and said "No honey I am sure most people have not, so you will have lots of people looking at how beautiful you look in your dress" Emma got a big smile on her face (my kids have always dressed themselves and most times quite odd, but I love it!!! So if you see a little girl prancing around Calgary you will know who she belongs to :- )

The pictures below are a few of us just fooling around with the camera, capturing some of our interesting days around here.

(Everett getting so big... trying to twist off Trent's nose, Ev looks just like Trent)

(hanging out with the kids)

(the kids & Elia have developed a new sport.... it is called Mop Surfing. Poor Elia, she drags the kids all over the floor, she is getting good exercise & the floor is getting washed)

(the boys sitting waiting for Trent, they look like they are going for tea)

(not a picture you see everyday. This truck passed us quickly and it looked very strange, it is Panama's version of a tree farm relocating trees, palm trees)

A week from tomorrow we are on a jet plane headed back to Calgary for a few weeks. Our six months here in Panama has been for the most part eventful. Our plan is to return to Panama at the end of August to continue our exploring. Emma asked the other day if we were coming back to Panama, I replied... "I think so" and she said "Good, I like living here" however the kids would like to move out of the condo into a house because they have stated they have ran out of hiding spots for hide&seek... :- ))))

The kids are very excited to come back to Calgary for a visit and are counting down the sleeps to get out to the lake in BC. They are sad to leave their classmates, especially Emma but they are sooo excited to see everyone back home. Emma is even making a guest apprearance back to her old Spanish bilingual school in Calgary to see all the kids - talk to them in Spanish and to tell them all about Panama. An exciting time.

This is obviously my last blog for a while. It is unbelievable how busy we are when we land in Calgary, but a good busy - eating at all my favorite resturants, going into a store and asking for something in English, driving around knowing people actually follow the rules (for the most part) and catching up with family & friends.

Thank you for taking the time to follow our story and I hope you have learned something along the way on our journey to Panama. When we return in August I have a list of adventures we are going to check off my list, even head to a Columbian island, so stay tuned.

Looking back on my many pictures of my amazing family it occured to me I am not in many...haha... so to close my finally blog I do not have a family picture as I forgot to get in some of them :- )

All the best to you and your loved ones. It has been great and like always we love to hear from you. I will have email all summer .

All our love...
Trent * Jody * Emma * Easton & Everett